Chapter Eleven: Forward the Expedition

 

There is something in the heart of the jungle that turns serenity to madness—that shreds madness into obsession.  No one ever comes back the same.

 

Jean Guerripont, Explorer

 

The Jade Jungle, Lavalava Island

 

The explorers’ initial estimate of only one day proved far under the mark for the actual time it would take them to reach the entrance of the Barrel Volcano.  It was already during the fleeting hours of dusk, and they were still somewhere deep in the Jade Jungle where the canopy was so thick and dark that even the bright beacons of the stars and the twin moons could not break through.  Twinkling faintly and gradually losing their strength, the bare remnants of light served as the only guiding points for the Koopas and other travelers as they set up a makeshift campsite for the long autumn night.

 

The Yoshi Ryok came back from under the overhang where the foreigners were gathered and shivering.  His partners Sulei and Kino made out the jade outline of his body as he approached and prepared a place for him to sit in their secluded corner of the camp.  It was so completely dim now that only the Yoshies’ trained eyes could perceive the movements and shapes around them, and so they waited and watched patiently as all the other members of the expedition anxiously drifted off to sleep.

 

“It is quiet now, I think,” said Kino in a bare whisper.  “What have you found out?”

 

Ryok looked at his crimson-colored friend and then back at the small fire dying in front them.  “Kolorado is seeking something farther into the bowels of the volcano.  He thinks there is a treasure there more valuable than anything he’s ever found, and, predictably, he’s pretty intent on getting to it.”

 

“That unclean Koopa caused enough trouble the last time he came,” said Sulei, clearly frustrated.  “If the Ravens don’t give him a good pecking, I have half a mind to treat him to a few minutes in my stomach.”

 

“Hiss! That’s enough,” said Ryok, glaring at the orange Yoshi.  “It is not up to us to pass judgment on these people yet.  There still may be some part they have to play, and who are we to assume it’s evil?  If anything, from now on we must be more careful and subservient to their demands, acting exactly like the hired hands we are.  This a clandestine operation, first and foremost, and the success of whatever test we’re going to be presented with depends upon our caution now.”

 

“Agreed,” said Kino softly.  No matter how tense the events in his life got, he was always the one to seem as serene as a lake in summer.  “Truth be told, I think we might have a friend in the Goomba Henry.  He has asked many questions of the Ravens that strike into our own guarded knowledge, and he does not seem to hold the same excitement for the mission that Kolorado does.  It is respect for our island that restrains him, and I think he might be ultimately loyal to that.”

 

Ryok nodded in agreement.  “What of the cosmologist?  She’s the only Koopa that matches Kolorado for expertise, but I don’t see what looking at the stars has to do with excavating a volcano.  We should keep an eye out for her, as well.”

 

“There are many arguments between the two old ones,” Sulei said.  “I’m wondering why Kolorado brought her along if he dislikes her so much.  Maybe a past rivalry?”

 

“Or perhaps something that runs deeper than we know,” Kino pondered.  “I’ll stick close to them tomorrow.  They were discussing having a personal attendant to carry their packs and stay near the front of the line with them, anyway.”

 

“So they’re becoming frightened of the jungle,” said Sulei with a grim smile.  “It always happens that way, when they least expect it.  If it weren’t for Mario, the old man wouldn’t have made it through last time.  Now that he has a whole crew with him, they move clumsily and clank around with their burdens.  Disaster isn’t far behind.”

 

“Don’t invite bad omens,” said Ryok.  “Having them fail isn’t in our best interest, you know.  Whatever doom they experience, we experience.  We’re all in the same canoe here.”

 

Sulei grumbled.  “Don’t take away all my fun.  I know we have to protect them, at least initially, but my point about exposure still stands.  This jungle breaks those who don’t understand it.  Each leaf in this place is enough to turn one naïve Koopa inside-out and leave him crying for his shell.  Only the Ravens, I’m convinced, truly belong here.  Even we feel strange in it, incomplete and unwelcome.  The plains and forests of the Dinosaur Lands are where our ancestral roots are.”

 

“Not that tired old speech again,” said Ryok, rolling his eyes.  “Come on, Sulei, we all know how much you hate this place.  No one’s stopping you from leaving.”

 

“True, no one’s hindering my progress, personally, but I’m not departing without rescuing you two from this gloomy sandpit.  I might be rough, but I’ve got certain morals.  Enjoying the sun, blue skies, and green grasses of some faraway paradise and knowing I didn’t do everything I could to knock some sense into my friends wouldn’t mix well.”

 

“A hero to the last,” Ryok snorted.  “I’m perfectly happy here.”

 

“I don’t think you are,” said Kino suddenly, shocking both of his comrades out of their argument.  “Ryok, you know you’ve told me many times you felt something missing from your life.  I expressed the same worry, but when someone offers an answer, you pull away.  Why else would you become so angry when Sulei mentions it?”

 

“Because the Yoshies need us here, that’s why,” said Ryok.  He sighed and let out all the reservations he had been holding at once.  “We can’t abandon them, even if we’d be better off somewhere else.  Without our hands, who would help them harvest the fruit and keep out the predators in the jungle.  Sure, there are others, but the numbers are slim enough as it is.  It’s a shameful cycle of existence we’ve got here, but there’s no way we’ll convince everyone to leave.”

 

“At least I know you realize it now,” said Sulei.  “You know it’s more than the habitat, though.  Yoshies do fine on Yo’ster Isle.  There’s something deep and dark about this island, and I’m positive the volcano, the ruins, the Ravens, and everything else are all connected to it in some way.”

 

“The Ravens are peaceful creatures,” said Ryok defensively.  “We can’t blame them for our own inabilities to adapt.”

 

“I don’t mean that they have a conscious involvement in whatever’s weird about this place,” said Sulei.  “I just mean they’re part of it, willingly or not.  It’s like symbiosis, but that doesn’t mean what’s controlling it is natural.  Things have only gotten worse since Mario came and gave us a brief glimpse of hope, but we were still relatively well-off then.  Fruit production has decreased, our own population has increased, and the attacks from the beasts in the jungle are more frequent.  Even the Piranha Plants are growing closer to our village, almost like they’re hedging in until they get close enough to weed us out.”

 

“Perhaps we’ll all be forced to move again before we know it, then,” said Kino, effectively putting an end to the conversation.  “Anyway, goodnight.”

 

The red Yoshi yawned and rolled over, his eyes already closed.  Sulei and Ryok looked at each other uneasily for another moment but then lay down, too, and the sounds of the night soon drowned out everything else.

 

That is, except for two Ravens perched in a high branch overhead.  The first bird blinked his glowing white eyes, and then the other did the same.  Both of their black feathers ruffled as a slight gust of wind blew through the canopy, and one hummed a tune that drifted and made the other shift on his scaly orange feet.  After a short response, the two strange creatures rocked back and forth and took to the air, flapping noisily away from the campsite.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Kolorado woke up earlier than anyone else the following morning and stepped out into the pre-dawn air.  It was still predominantly shadowy in the surrounding jungle, but a faint blueness was gradually permeating the sky and revealing familiar shapes in blurry hues of purple and gray.  Standing tall and stretching his arms out lazily, the Koopa glanced at the other tents and made certain none of the lanterns were glowing dimly from within the deeply green coverings.  Moments like these refreshed the sense of youth inside him that drove him on through all of his journeying.

 

Pleased, he went back to his tent and shook Henry awake.  The Goomba opened his eyes slowly, realized what had happened, and hopped up to prepare the place for packing.  After only three years of working together, they were already able to communicate wordlessly.  It helped that both of them were obsessed with organization and efficiency, too, always having to be sure that each brass cooking pan was in its proper place and all team members were ready to do their parts.  The cosmologist Mary had wryly compared them to the two opposite workings of a pocket watch: without one, the other would fail and rust over.

 

The metaphor wasn’t entirely accurate, but Kolorado did notice less things had gone wrong since Henry—fresh out of an archaeology program somewhere in Salinia—had signed up on his latest expedition and went globetrotting with him to some ruins in Sarasaland.  This most recent adventure would be the ultimate test of both their abilities, though. Mt. Lavalava grumbled bear-like somewhere over the thick tree clusters to the west, affirming the thought by its mere presence.

 

“Something’s been bothering me, Henry,” said the Koopa, fiddling with his snow-white mustache.  “The Yoshies we brought along with us, those three from the village near the southern shores, they seem to be awfully interested in what we’re doing.”

 

“Local curiosity, perhaps?” offered the Goomba, knowing the feeling Kolorado was talking about but not wanting to address it.  He liked the Yoshi’s foreign company too much.  “They’re harmless, I’d say. It’s the Ravens I’d offer the most caution towards.  They kept you out last time, remember.  Only Mario’s meeting with Raphael allowed you to tag along.”

 

Kolorado blustered to himself and poured a glass of gin and tonic.  He swirled it around thoughtfully in his hand, took a drink, and added a bit more tonic.  “I’ve come to think Mario was the only reason I had success last year.  That’s why it’s so imperative that we don’t mess up our most excellent opportunities here.  We have to be vigilant at all times, waiting for the inevitable obstacle!”

 

“Don’t you worry about that, sir,” said Henry, eyeing the half-emptied glass in his employer’s hands.  Drinking was a sure sign of the Koopa’s anxieties.  “We’ll pull through just fine.  The Piranha Plants were all run out of the volcano, and they were the only spot of difficulty last time.”

 

“Besides the crumbling platforms and molten magma, “said Kolorado thinly.  “Anyway, you’re absolutely correct.  I’m fretting far too much over these apparitions of danger.  It’s just that Mary’s with us this time, and I’d never hear the end of it if we had to pack up and take our losses.”

 

“She might be less interested in making professional fools out of us than you think.  Mary is awfully excited about getting to the summit as fast as possible, you know.  Even more mysterious, she didn’t become so vocal concerning her impatience until two or three days ago.”

 

“A lack of self-control on her part,” said Kolorado, obviously musing over Henry’s accusation.  “Yes, she does seem to be quite wound up over it, positively rattling her bones to get a closer peak at the sky. Humph!” he snorted.  “Probably some bloody constellation that only shows up once a century. She goes on and on about that droll stuff, assuming everyone in a ten mile radius is as intrigued as her about twinkling lights a billion miles away.”

 

“I use them for directional purposes, myself,” said Henry, trying to match the Koopa’s lightening mood.  “All the same, I’d think we should be the one training our eyes on her, in an investigative sense. There’s something not right about her intentions, that’s for sure.”

 

“Now you’re talking, my boy!” exclaimed Kolorado, setting the empty wine glass down.  “You’ve lifted my mood, you have.  It’s we who are the judgers and the juries, not her, not that old Mary bird.  We’ve got enough to think about without worrying over her and her queer aims, eh?  Yes, of course we do!  Thank you, Henry, lad.”

 

Henry was on the verge of making a snatch for the Koopa’s glass so he wouldn’t be able fill it again when a flaring red Yoshi stuck his head through the entrance of the tent.  Its tall eyes darted around, amazingly reflexive, and it spoke in a characteristically high-pitched voice before the others could respond.

 

“Sorry to bother you, sirs, but I could not help overhearing yesterday that you could use a personal aide to carry your things.  My two friends are more than able to bear our assigned tasks, so I’d be happy to take on the job here.”

 

“Er,” stumbled Kolorado, exchanging a hesitant look with Henry.  “That would be delightful… what was your name?”

 

“Kino, sir,” responded the Yoshi, his face featureless.  “I’ll be grazing outside, if you don’t mind.  Just call me when you’re ready to go.”

 

“Then that would be now,” said Kolorado, secretly indignant that the Yoshi was so near to rising as early as he had.  “No time to fool around with breakfast, you know.  The mountain awaits, and no one will drag us behind.  Henry, go help… whatever this fine chap’s name is prepare the men for a day’s march.”

 

“Kino, sir,” said the Goomba, bowing and following the Yoshi’s disappearing red tail out of the tent.  There were several loud whistles and shouts outside, and suddenly the camp was alive with movement and fiery determination.

 

Kolorado looked around tiredly, and after a few moment’s waiting, opened up his private chest once more and fingered the rolled-up edges of the ancient scroll resting under a pile of heirlooms and other trinkets.  His goal was edging more and more into sight, so close now that he could smell it as clearly as the ash and brimstone boiling nearby.

 

~*~*~*~

 

The end of the long day approached, and they were still traveling through the thickest part of the jungle when they came to a largely untouched stretch of ruins.  At the orders of Kolorado, all of the students and more experienced explorers went to work cataloguing the various designs and of course finding nothing beyond what the other relics had already taught them.  The piles of stones were merely the remnants of a long wall and stone gate through which different tribesmen of whatever race had built them probably traveled under.  Since it was in the middle portion of the afternoon, though, and because they had not stopped for lunch, they all sat along the rubble and fragments and ate their meals.

 

Kolorado, Mary, Kino, and Henry were all gathered near the most complete portion of the granite gate.  The Yoshi, however, was removed from them and munching silently on a cantaloupe he had found in a nearby tree.  After he brought them each a sample of the tree’s bounty, they thought little of his isolation and left him alone.

 

“It’ll be tomorrow before we even reach the mountain’s base at this point,” said Mary.  The Parakoopa’s wings were flattened against her red shell, proving the disappointment inherent in her words.  “The jungle is far denser than you reckoned, Kolorado.  Too much underbrush.”

 

“Pah! Woman, you don’t know the half of it,” said the Koopa, tearing off a piece of a sandwich and chewing it roughly.  “The moss and thickets are nothing compared to the deep bamboo forests of Chai or the snow-covered alps in Easton.  Henry and I bushwhacked and scaled them with ease, so just be patient.  Our initial estimation was only skewered by the amount of ruins we have encountered.  It is important that a true archaeologist consider them all.”

 

“Don’t lecture me.  Your wife and I have had correspondence about that.  So intelligent for the spouse of an old windbag,” she said, leaning back and laughing.

 

Henry cracked a smile but covered it when Kolorado looked to him for support.  “The boss is right, ma’am.  We can’t leave any stone untouched.”

 

“And my wife is lucky to have me just as much as I am her, and she’ll tell you it,” Kolorado said, not entirely sure of the claim.  “Or why else would she tolerate all my expeditions?  That’s true love right there, you old maid.”

 

Mary simply gave a greater chuckle at that and finished off her soup.  “I forgot how much fun—for me at least—it was to march along on these blundering trips.  Half the fun is in guessing where you’ll take personal offense next.”

 

“Come on, Henry!” he shouted vehemently, rising and spilling his bread and vegetables all over the ground.  “We don’t have to take this.”

 

“Good!” cackled the Parakoopa.  “A nice walk and a cooling’s just what the doctor ordered.  Or do archaeologists specialize in medicine, as well?”

 

Kino watched as the Goomba and his steaming employer trudged off into the jungle alone.  He shook his head in mild frustration and trotted after them.  It was getting dark again, already, or at least dim enough so the canopy didn’t let through the last waning rays of the sun.  Whatever predators prowled in this part of the island would undoubtedly soon awake, famished and ready to make a dinner out of anything that crossed their paths.

 

~*~*~*~

 

“I really don’t understand why you had to do that,” said Henry.  “She would have thought you were simply angry and wanted to think a bit without all of the theatrics.”

 

“Well, I always did want to be a dramatist,” said Kolorado, chortling.  “Anyway, now the entire camp we’ll think we’ve simply run off.  The burden of having had to bring them along is solved.”

 

“The South Mushroom Trading Company, not to mention your wife, will be displeased when we make it back,” he said for the hundredth time since they’d boarded the ship half-way across the planet.  “It would have been safer if we had brought along Krueger and Champlain, as well.  They’ve traveled with you longer than I have.”

 

“And they’re dull and scientific, completely unable to take risks for discovery’s sake.  Worshippers of the controlled variable, you might say.”

 

“I must admit, this is somewhat exciting,” said Henry, looking around at the towering trees with sounds of wildness radiating all around them.  “Just like our latest adventure in Sarasaland.  To think, so much is at stake!”

 

“I might as well tell you what we’re looking for now,” said Kolorado.  “The same scroll I got in Chai which told of all the end-of-the-world nonsense—that’s the treasure we’re seeking.”

 

“The Breaking Altar?  I thought you’d dismissed that as hocus-pocus and turned the scroll in for recognition,” said Henry, narrowing his eyes.

 

“Well, I still do think it’s claptrap and all that, but it doesn’t mean the Altar doesn’t exist.  The people of this island probably built it as heads of some administrative religion, stating that there were others in faraway corners of the world for the effect of scale.  Most importantly, whatever is inside will be completely untainted and centered around the highest of this ancient race’s history.  It will finally unlock the secrets of my archaeological masterpiece:  the identity of the Mt. Lavalava ancestors.”

 

“If it exists,” said Henry doubtfully.  “You’re right, though.  It’s a possibility we can’t afford to pass up.”

 

“Never leave any stone unturned!” they said in unison, marching onward.

 

As the night slowly crept back upon them, though, it became wearisome work carrying the even the barest packs they had strapped over their shoulders.  Grumbling and sweating, stopping at intervals, they finally came to rest against the broad trunk of a tree and sat down, breathing heavily.  A furry anteater and her young waddled by before them, inattentive, probably back home to their burrow for rest and a new start in the morning.  Gloriously gleaming, the moon could be seen through a wide patch in the overreaching branches above, and it gave them hope that their destination was near at hand.

 

“We must be close,” said Kolorado, groaning as he shifted his backpack off and lay it down beside him.  “When I marked the underground entrance last time, I know it was not more than three hours’ trekking from the gate.  We should have found it by now, in fact.”

 

“Without markers, distance traveled can be confused by any odd conditions,” Henry said, as if by rote.  “We’re simply too anxious to get there.”

 

“Maybe so,” admitted Kolorado.  “I’m not much too excited for anything with all of this dreadful weight to carry, though.  Perhaps we should have brought one of the Yoshies.”

 

“I was not supposed to follow you, sir?” asked Kino, stepping out from the brush behind them.  “Sorry, but it was trouble enough catching up with you.  I couldn’t find what path you had taken as quickly as I would’ve liked.”

 

“Er,” Kolorado stammered, thinking that he had a habit of doing it around Kino and his unpleasant surprises.  “No, no, I just didn’t think you’d be able to keep up the pace.  Now that you’re here, though, how about carrying some of our stuff?  It’s hard work.”

 

Kino gave something reminiscent of a smile and piled their packs onto his saddle, which had already been deprived of his previous load back at the camp.  This new weight was not even a noticeable fraction of what he had been porting around.  In addition, it was not the process of finding their trail that had cost him so much time in following them.  He had only gone back to inform Ryok and Sulei of the secretive departure, and they were probably not far behind, waiting in the shades of the jungle so the Koopa and Goomba would not perceive their own hidden designs.

 

“You are quite a remarkable tracker, Kino,” said Kolorado tentatively, not even knowing if the Yoshi liked being talked to.  He’d never seen the strange creatures converse except with each other.  “In all honesty, we did not mean for anybody to find us.”

 

“I know that,” the crimson-colored Yoshi said plainly.  “That is why I made sure no one followed.  Your tiff with the Parakoopa was most likely sufficient, but I knew you wouldn’t want me to gamble the matter.”

 

“And you were right in that,” said Kolorado sternly, although he wasn’t sure why.  The Yoshi had been nothing but a convenient and genial help throughout the expedition.  “So, we are coming up on an entrance I know of, a sort of subterranean tunnel which comes about where I ended my last exploration of the volcano.  Are you prepared to follow us in and brave the dangers of Plit’s most volatile foundations?  It’s a terrifying prospect, you must admit, for those inexperienced in such dealings, eh?”

 

“I would not have signed up for the task if I weren’t willing to follow you all the way to the bowels of the earth, sir,” said Kino, emotionless.  “Though, if you are trying to get rid of me, just say so.  I would immediately turn back and keep all knowledge I’ve gained in following you a secret.”

 

“Alright, we’re convinced.  Just keep that promise,” said Henry, looking worriedly at Kolorado.  “By the way, what do you know of the Ravens?  I noticed you and your comrades were discussing something as they began to chant on the first day of our journey.”

 

“They were issuing a warning in song to not go any farther,” said Kino, carefully testing at which point he would need to stretch the truth.  So far, none of the answers they required were compromising.  “We know almost nothing about them, except that they seem to have a deep respect for the ruins and the volcano itself.  They have been here for a very long time, it would seem.”

 

Kolorado shuffled nervously and started to ask another question, but one more stride brought them through a last curtain of broad leaves and into a clearing.  There was a wide hole in the ground, with steps descending down into pitch blackness.  No noise emanated upward, and the depth seemed to go on forever.

 

“We’re here,” said the Koopa, looking back with a grin.  “Come on, then.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

“They’ve found the Forbidden Passage,” whispered Ryok, his face full of the fright of not knowing what lay beyond.  “Those marks in the branches above, glimmering faintly…” he trailed off, gesturing.

 

“An admonition from the Ravens,” said Sulei.  “We can’t let Kino go in there.  He doesn’t see them.”

 

“He doesn’t need to,” said the other Yoshi quietly.  “The Forbidden Passage is common knowledge to us all.”

 

“And yet he goes in without even a whimper,” snapped Sulei.  “We can’t let them get away with this.  I’m going back to warn the villagers.  More than anything the Ravens have told us through their odd ways not to approach that tunnel.  For so long we assumed it didn’t exist, but now it’s all fitting together.  The strange happenings with the island creatures, the furtive motives of Kolorado, his sudden departure from the group, his almost miraculous discovery of this place, and of course the Ravens’ various signs throughout this expedition—something very bad is going to happen if we don’t stop them.”

 

“Maybe,” said Ryok uneasily, gripped by the intangible aura of death radiating from the pit in the clearing before them, “maybe you’re right.  I have to get Kino out of there, though, and you can’t go back alone.”

 

“There’s no time to waste, unfortunately,” Sulei said grimly.  “Don’t come after me until you have Kino.  After I tell the villagers, I’m leaving on one of those explorers’ boats.  I’ll wait two days, and then I’m departing, with or without you guys.  It’s gone on too long.”

 

Without a reply from his friend, the Yoshi barreled off into the darkness.  Ryok wanted to call after him, to tell him it was all coincidental and overreacting, but he could not fight off the supernatural paralysis that had gripped his body.  It was as if it was repelling him from chasing after Kino, or maybe just from descending into the folds of the earth, where some terrible secret was hidden from mortal hands.

 

He screwed up as much courage as he could muster and fluttered in, dropping down, down, down into the infinite shadows until all the remaining light of the moon and stars were utterly erased.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Sulei, meanwhile, was fleeing desperately from the same fears and crashing through thickets as fast as his legs could carry him.  Everything went by in a mixed blur of darkness and omens, each foretelling something more horrible than the one before.  Noises, growls of encroaching predators, saturated the air around him and closed in no matter where he ran to and no matter how hard he pounded the ground with his feet.

 

He was shattered finally by a wall of invisible umbrage, and as he recovered his vision and looked up, he saw two floating eyes pierce his skull and disrupt the patterns of his mind.  The form of the abominable murkiness—the demon newly unleashed upon the island—seeped through the air and into his body, expelling the life and the spirit out of his flesh and into nothingness.  It assumed everything, Yoshi eyes now blank and soulless, swift feet now heading back towards the underground tunnel with malicious intent.

 

Here, too, it began to rain, and the storm billowed ever on to the distant curve of the ocean.